I found a new motor for the IT7. It's an 84 12a and transmission that came out of a low mileage donor RX7 that was hit hard in the rear. Next to Steven Burkett's EP motor, it's the cleanest 12a I've ever seen! Now I have to find the time to install it.
Meanwhile, I've been pretty busy in the shop. 1st up was a 4 point rollbar in St. Louis BMW club member, Geoff Tolsdorf's round taillight BMW 2002. Geoff helped me out a few months back and let me use his '02 to test fit the cage I made for a customer in California. I had already made Geoff's main hoop from the pattern I used on the previous cage and had test fit it in his car. During the test fit, I made my patterns for the hoop and brace pads and took the measurements for the length of the braces and the angles.
In my spare time while getting the RX “ready” for the start of the season, I made the boxed pads and pre-notched the rear braces (including a diagonal between the braces). Geoff prepped the car for an April Porche Club Event at Gateway and when our schedules finally meshed, Geoff dropped the car off. The bar install took about 5 hours start to finish. About 10 hours worth of time total. The rollbar and braces were all pre-painted before installation and then touched up after being TIG welded in place.
After the 2002 Rollbar was complete, we installed a set of BMW adjustable seat brackets. We permenantly mounted the brackets as the factory seat mounting holes had seen their share of abuse over the years and some of the mounts were of “questionable integrity.” We added an additional square tube support for extra insurance. Once the driver seat was replaced we installed Geoff's new 5 point harness and Geoff was on his way to get the carbs tuned!
I had pics of the install from start to finish, but the digital camera decided to erase every one of them. Geoff is going to send me some after he gets finished painting the floor, or I'll get some more next weekend at the PCA event.
Pics!
Geoff is using my trailer to take the 02 to Gateway next weekend so it was time to make the new trailer ramps that I've been putting off for the last 4 months. The old ramps were 4 feet long. This made for too steep of an angle for anything with a low ride height (or an exhaust that was way too low). The new ramps are 7 feet long and made from 1.5”x1.5”x3/16” angle with 1/8” stringers every other one (hey, 5 lbs less is 5 lbs less to haul!), spaced at 8” apart. They'll actually end up weighing just slightly more than the WAY overbuilt 4 footers, and fit into the same space under the trailer.
Next up is either the Super Production Miata OR a Turbo 300z streetcar.
Izzy's Custom Cages